The Big Round Up Womenswear FW14, Part 3

This is part three of our trend-overview of season FW2014. Take a closer look at Cosmic, Warriors and With a Swirl.

COSMIC

(Dsquared², Balenciaga, Gucci, Wang, Iceberg(

A touch of Barbarella spotted at Dsquared² with a slice of lunatic glamor. Much more strict, square and bold, the sporty hybrids of Balenciaga show a playful touch of humor. Cosmic starlets in leather mini’s at Gucci. More utility at Balenciaga, ready to hunt or to enter the lab? Chunky sweaters treated with crinkly silver foil, like an astronaut’s space suit at Iceberg.

 

WARRIORS

(Haider Ackermann, Rick Owens, Rick Owens, Haider Ackermann, Barbara Bui)

Brace yourself, the troups are nearing. The heroins of Haider Ackermann, show feminine and masculine symbiosis, in longer then long sumptuous slouchy suits.

Family tribes and high priestesses at Rick Owens wear sleeveless tunic dresses and ponchos in primal knit, felt and leather skins. Modern day cocooning goes elegant at Ackermann in lush jersey cap-sleeved onesies, the hit of the season. Barbara Bui shows chunky and sharp tailored jerseys.

WITH A SWIRL

(Chalayan, Dries van Noten, Christopher Kane, Roland Mouret, Just Cavalli)

Most excitement was in the added dynamics. All moving layers and slits in Hussein Chalayan’s gauzy gowns, glittering in liquid textures. Dries van Noten’s pattern mania shows psychedelic swirl with a rave quality. Christopher Kane’s organza dresses ruffle, since composed of fifty dark-trimmed leaves of the fabric. Sculptural as well as ethereal. Roland Mouret’s stiff coated tweed is animated by a swirling laser cut fringe skirt. Just Cavalli shows racy metallic collage prints, exuberant applications and skirts with an elegant swirl.

The dynamic promise of technology!

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

 

The Big Round Up Womenswear FW2014, Part 1

As always we where overwhelmed with the flood of fashion beauty and material excellence coming over us during the global fashion weeks.

There was this continuous feel for sobriety, for real clothes and a new found spirit for informality motivated by utilitarian inspirations. Lot’s of chic citywear icons where given the sporty treatment. The best windbreaker, the most comfortable puff jacket, the most perfect trouser fit. Between those masses of garments some were excellent in their normality, perfect in execution, amazing in materiality. Supreme touch, perfect drape, etc. Technology is helping here and making top tailoring more accessible, performing textiles more sensual and expressive fashion textiles more functional.

Between those real clothes to please us, very close to what woman desire to wear instantly, we did spot some true fashion statements. In percentage not that many, but nevertheless there. Found mostly in expressive materials, holographic coatings, laminations, cuts, fringes, 3D embellishment and eye-catching patterns. Where past seasons were strong on craft we now sense a steady shift towards technology.

Then there is this big (in many ways) offering of the cosy and comfortable. We nearly dare to mention a return of the feel for cocooning. All about enveloping, embracing, sheltering and protecting. Wrapped in plaids, down blankets, furs, felt ponchos and most of all in knits.

Knits where everywhere this season. For separate items as well as total looks. Haider Ackermann uses them long, lean and liquid. Balenciaga is among the designers who experiment by laminating bulky knits; others just cut it as woven material, where many, as The Row, find excellence by use of precious fibre – cashmere has never been that big.

Where we expected previous season a future for narrative sets and spectacular venues this was limited to few. The stupendous supermarket setting of Chanel was the talk of the season, he vacuum-packed his bags where Iris van Herpen left her audience in awe by vacuum-packing her models. Both raised a manifest on consumerism, in Chanel’s case this is likely to be rather ironic. Political or social statements where hardly done. Fashion is where it used to be, fur is back bigger than ever without any thought or comment, quotes were there for a season in summer, but were empty phrases appliquéd on garments as decoration. Now the message was femininity, desire and being beautiful. Back to the core business of fashion.

In general it seems that designers very much care for how women feel, what a girl wants, how fashion makes them feel beautiful. Fall 2014 catwalk season was much more about the exploration of women’s fashion desires then about pushing designers signature looks.
Cherchez la femme!

URBAN TECH

(Alexander Wang, Prada, Christian Wijnants, Balenciaga, Miu Miu)

Outdoor and urban sportswear never looked that glamorous. Alexander Wang showed utilitarian city wear in experimental tech textiles, Prada staged a boxy shearling in mirroring gold. Silver foil jackets at Christian Wijnants cover tech double knit shorts and Alexander Wang laminated cabled knit monty’s to cover chain knit skirts. Miu Miu uplifted normality by adding hologram gloss to quilted shirt jackets.

 

INTER-GALACTIC ROYALTY

(Rodarte, Moschino, Thom Browne, Dolce & Gabanna, Etro)

Bumping into a Princess Leia look-a-like at Rodarte we realized that Starwars is still making waves. Jeremy Scott explored junk culture for Moschino and came up with the bright, brash and ingenious staging their urban princess, Thom Browne evoked the ecclesiastical and went for the sublime, it where king’s that inspired Dolce & Gabanna to dress up this princess, she is showing us the key towards success. Veronica Etro met her royalty during a trip down the Silk Road.

KNIT IT

(Yohji Yamamoto, Céline, The Row, Céline)

Knit is big in all senses. Impressive knit volumes – soft, bulky and warm at Yohji Yamamoto. Sensuality and tenderness is what drove Phoebe Philo towards her all knit wardrobes for Céline. Instant luxury is what the models must have felt when The Row covered them in these super-size double face cashmere knits. Simple, still and ultimately comfortable.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

First View Milan Womenswear FW2014: New Understatement

 

There are alternative ways to make a woman look beautiful. We saw brave and masterful innovative cut and pattern-making, smart updating of traditional skins and silks and an intelligent play with shades and light. The outcome looks new, modern and understated – sophisticated elegance with a self-evident comfort and natural flair in shapes that are not all that natural. What we look at are complex drapes, mathematical mosaics, intelligent coupes and smart technical finishing.

Tomas Maier, for Bottega Veneta, called these fab outcomes “puzzles’ – simple silhouettes with clever nips, skilful pleats and intelligent trompe l’oeil illusions. Ending up to be comfortable dresses in a sensual cosmetic pallet, to make women feel good.

Alessandra Facchinetti for Tod’s found ways to use leather less like skin and more like fabric which leads to streamlined, modern, women friendly outfits in lacquered patent leather.

Where Bottega Veneta uses ‘puzzles’, Tod’s mentions ‘mosaics’, both as results of in-depth explorations of pattern-making. Their efforts are inventive, unorthodox and challenging classical tailoring standards.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

First View New York Womenswear FW2014: American Sportswear

Extreme weather-conditions this season make a matching backdrop for the functional as well as imaginative city-sport outfits that passed us on the New York runways. 21^st century fabric technology facilitates utilitarian, sensorial as well as sensual fashion looks. We met heat-sensitive materials, extremely dimensional knits, embossed leathers, space-age treatments and Day-Glo shadings.

Alexander Wang shows cutting-edge technical finishings in yellow-splashed sweaters with crinkled surfaces that change colors through the models’ body heat. 3.1 Phillip Lim presents pretty collage prints in peppy cold-weather pastels on bombers as well as dresses. Thakoon goes cocooning with turtleneck shoulder fitted cape-lets, funnel-neck scarfs and soft shearling jackets. Alexander Wang stages bold and brutal boots matched with smart tailoring – lofty balloon silhouettes in featherweight parachute silks and satins.

Luxury solutions for sensitive survivalists.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

The Big Round Up Womenswear SS 2014, Part 3

This is the third and last part of the 9 big trends we spotted for the coming spring-season: Tribal, Showgirls and Understated.

TRIBAL

From left to right: Missoni, Moncler Gamme Rouge, Givenchy, Missoni, Givenchy

Make way for the fashion tribes. It was all feathers and fringe, African inspired patterns and crafted textiles. At Missoni a subliminal strand of exotica trailed through the collection embracing tribal artisanship and textile crafts; Monclers Gamme Rouge touches on the feathery froth of the urban jungle, celebrating diversity in a multiracial catwalk and a natural assimilation of urban cultures; Givenchy shows the car crash of  two cultures—the fragility of Japan and the draping of Africa – brewing a hot and exquisite mixture of African romance and Japanese elegance and fragility.

 

UNDERSTATED

From left to right: Hermès, Salvatore Ferragamo, Donna Karan, Stella McCartney, Paul Smith

There is value in simplicity, in effortless and sophisticated silhouettes, impactful and strong in execution. Hermès shows the look particularly long, lean, light and relaxed, executed in a late Seventies vibe; Salvatore Ferragamo makes it polished in an unpretentious way; Donna Karan shows the fundamentals of a beautiful line up, showing languid dresses in an inviting palette; Stella McCartney shows easy feminine shapes, designed on instinct, staying true to her aesthetic;  Where Paul Smith shows a sexy, shrugged-on attitude and a carefree confidence.

SHOWGIRLS

From left to right: Rodarte, Julien Macdonald, Miu Miu, buying viagra Roberto Cavalli, Louis Vuitton

Dressed to face the spotlights. Rodarte exclaims “Los Angeles” – staging fringed brocade bras and satin leopard diner jackets; Julien MacDonald shows a metropolis-reminiscent body matching his glambassador status, his motto – “you can’t have enough of glitter!’; Miu Miu displays a rebellious view on femininity – pretty and perverse, the classics of a bad girl; Roberto Cavalli keeps it savvy and seductive, in clingy, webby laces and repurposed reptiles – telling stories of silver-screen dreaminess; Where Louis Vuitton tries to awaken “the showgirl in all of us’ with an emphasis on fearless and fabulous denim with crafty lace patchworks.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

The Big Round Up Womenswear SS 2014, Part 2

This is the second part of our Round Up for the coming season, which focuses on the designers’ favorite print for ss2014 – Flowers – and the glamor of shiny fabrics.

SHINE & SHAPE

From left to right: Rodarte, Prabal Gurung, Balenciaga, Ports 1961, Christian Dior

This is all about personal fixations and idealized heroins acting on a contemporary stage. Rodarte reveals tacky satins with  faint 80s references on a sunset strip and a Hollywood boulevard in outfits that show stardom and cool couture confidence; Prabal Gurung shows urban glam in Marilyn Monroe inspired dresses and outfits; Balenciaga sculpts to go where couture and twenty-first-century technology meet; Ports 1961 merges the bold and the boxy with silk, satins and lace; Where Christian Dior concludes that respect for the past is all well and good – but the future won’t wait…

 

THE FLORIST.01

From left to right: Antonio Marras, Aquilano Rimondi, Christopher Kane, Dries Van Noten, Hermès

Botanical gorgeousness was all around. At Antonio Marras with otherworldly fashion sensibility; At Aquilano Rimondi jewel-like in its coloring, couture like in its obsessive polish and exotic in its pattern; Christopher Kane shows flower activism “We live because of flowers and trees”, his spreading blossoms show a lush physicality and he emphasises viagra online pharmacy cheap the flowers’ reproductive capabilities; Dries van Noten finds paintings of bulbous tulips at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, he translates them, as if stenciled by magic, onto cloth; He might have met the Hermès team there – scanning the same sources.

 

THE FLORIST.02

From left to right: Comme des Garçons, Mary Katrantzou, Jonathan Saunders, Preen By Thornton Bregazzi

Here sweetness comes with en eerie edge. Comme des Garçons looks nearly pretty, in pink floral nursery patterns; Mary Katrantzou pumps up the psychedelia of her prints, showing florals exaggerated with embroidery; All-new Summer of Love for Jonathan Saunders, showing psychedelic sunsets and giant globes that glow like alien suns while trance music drowsily drones and opium poppies shimmer on organza starburst floral prints, all to show perverse delight; Where Preen shines brightly with foil silk floral anoraks and shiny pink shifts in cellophane nylon.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

The Big Round Up Womenswear SS 2014 Part 1

 

Against the chaotic backdrop of modern times we witness more extreme fashion scenarios this season. After a rather calm start in New York, with safe recycling of the successful and proven of previous seasons, creative energy was unleashed in Milan and a more dynamic spirit came to full strength arriving in Paris. There we experienced a mind-blowing climax during a happening loaded with raging energy staged by Rick Owens.

We sense the spirit of activism. Obvious in all quotes and messages boldly embedded in clothes that are both dynamic and wearable. Fashion used as a billboard for rage, concern, care, as well as joy. Designers tend to dive deeper into the context of their collections, want to give meaning to their actions and draw strong narratives that speak to the imagination.

Empowerment is one of the more politically driven manifestos. Women in general, women in Africa – from Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, Céline and most obvious at Prada – and there are more…

A booming interest in art conveys a sense of unbridled energy and optimism. Paint is dragged, dabbed, pulled and splattered across garments. Clothes are used as a canvas and art on stage is used as a backdrop for calm and beautiful clothes.

Africa provides key inspiration, fringe and a tribal beat as the theme of the season. The echo of Africa is omnipresent. As mentioned above, reflecting on the fate of women, but also on its cultural vibrancy, its folklore and rich aesthetics – designers place it in a new context and translate it into high fashion looks. Let’s hope the interest is sustained, translated into positive action and that something is in it for Africa….

We are entering a brave new world in which science and technology are the driving forces behind new innovation across the design industry. Balmain and Céline are among the designers who show impressive examples of technical fashion textile innovation. With hypermodern materials and an energetic attitude, sport was one of the stories that engulfed the runways.

We listed 9 strong influences straight off the international catwalks in New York, London, Milan and Paris.
ARTWORKS, FIRE BRIGADE, GRAPHIC AND SPORTY, SHINE AND SHAPE, SHOWGIRLS, THE FLORIST 0.1, THE FLORIST 0.2, TRIBAL, UNDERSTATED.

Let’s start with the first three.

ARTWORKS

From left to right: Viktor & Rolf, Céline, Céline, Kenzo, Chanel

A fest of art processes and a good portion of fashion activism generates primary, urgent expressionism in giant strokes and squiggles. A one off sprayed couture canvas energizes the plain range of Victor & Rolf; slaps of primary colors like tribal brushwork and big, bold, bright tunics and skirts wild with fringe frame the power of women at Céline; artful ocean drawings point out the cause of overfishing at Kenzo where Chanel poses its products of crafts and artisanship against the backdrop of an art gallery.

FIRE BRIGADE

From left to right: Undercover, Emilio Pucci, Hermès, Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior

We signal an alarming portion of red. Walking billboards shout the revival of logo mania during the show of Undercover – showing impressive activism and manifestos in vibrant fierce red; Emilio Pucci chooses red for streetwise gym clothes to express extreme body confidence; Hermès shows red in a rendezvous with romance resonating the faint echoes of Africa; generic version of diflucan At Alexander McQueen power women are painted in dazzlingly tribal red; Where Christian Dior paints poisonous red to stress the harder attitude. Fashion is politicized and shades have a meaning.

GRAPHIC & SPORTY

From left to right: Viktor & Rolf, Victoria Beckham, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Céline, Ports 1961

Sport proves to be one of the big drivers this season. Viktor & Rolf dress dolls and play sporty tailoring games with knife pleats and sharp crested blazers; Shape, leggy and cling where the buzzwords for Victoria Beckhams crisp line up showing athletic body-harness dresses; City smart sports layers make easy outfits that are cut with efficiency by 3.1 Philip Lim; Céline goes ragga style in this elongated string vest look, layered with a yellow jumper tied around the waist; Where Ports 1961 shows sports clean and sharp, matching bold boxy tops with generous drapes in full swing.

 

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

 

First View Paris Womenswear SS2014: Free Style

Rebooted feminism is not limited to the region of Milan. Where Prada touched on tribal influences to visualise the buy levitra american pharmacy power of women, we see also Céline reflecting on this topic. Subtle acts of rebellion as well as strong statements, yet all in sophisticates aesthetics that make happy, breath freedom and inspire.

Céline gives power and women a face with slaps of tribal brushwork on bold tunics. Free and easy with slashing, painterly strokes in primary shades, the bold matched with fluid fabric experiments. Where the Céline women are tough and tribal – Issey Myake’s power story comes in shouting COLOUR. Poppy neon-brights suggest sparks of vibrant daylight in all its intense gradations from dawn to dusk; His theme is light – starlight, moonlight, and sunlight.

Raf Simons laid a primrose path for his models through a pretty jungle-dense garden of real and fake plants. Lovely garments with respect for the classic where spiced with a whiff of toxic poison; Fluo patterns and bold quotes.   Givenchy combined the fragility of Japan and the draping of Africa in kimono-infected suits and filmy stretch jersey dresses.

The upbeat rebellion of fashion tribes.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

First View Milan Womenswear SS2014: Calm Charm

Elegant, effortless and sophisticated – polished in an unpretentious way.
A touch of modernism is what we recognize in these apparently smooth and simple clothes that almost seem to hide its distinct element of extra-ordinary craft. Extremely wearable items are lined up to seduce – the lushness of nature melded with sporty nonchalance. Mostly in all-natural materials, like linen, cottons and silk. Generous volumes generate carefully controlled draped effects in folded pants, order viagra online spruce circular skirts and roomy belted shifts.
Tods tries to treat leather like cotton, and shows well-designed, minutely tailored clothes, smart exercises in streamlined efficiency.
Sportmax reveals their soft spot and mere love for the feminine by embracing the dress – light and airy, in pure and understated materials and shades, sophisticated in tailoring and modern in silhouette and proportions. Marni responded to the athletic spirit that grips Milan this season. Elegant cutting and a chic game of the straight and curved results in a new breed of classic sportswear. Bottega Veneta shows bold expressive volumes in pared back shades yet smart fabrics – cottons are woven with copper, which provides the fabrics a memory as well as a monumental sculptural quality.
There is value in simplicity!

First View Milan Womenswear SS2014: Exotic Work Out

“Ethereal physicality” is how ms. Giannini, designer of Gucci, outlines her glam sports collection. Sporty vibes mix seamlessly well with exotic flora and ornaments inspired by the Orient, Art Deco and Art Nouveau. Undeniable luxury reflected in garments adorned with intricate laser-cut lace patterns, silk jacquards, glowing Lurex, swinging fringe and intricate beading. A festival of pattern in cut, pasted and patched large-scale exotics. Not queued up in this style spot yet nonetheless newsworthy is Missoni  – showing a pastiche of ideas that range from Indian sarongs, Japanese pop songs, volcano prints, seascapes and florals. More exotics at Etro where the family’s signature paisley is splintered, collaged, and mutated with a fresher result, more alive than ever.

Staged in this spot are – Gucci: clearly inspired by Art Nouveau illustrations of Erté, managing to merge exquisite patterning with giant T’s, roomy bombers and silken jogging pants that show relaxed fluidity and breath an undeniable luxury.  Just as Pucci – celebrating gym clothes, showing extreme body confidence and sheer luxury cialis 20mg at the same time. Here Masai embroideries do the trick. Iceberg navigates between spaceship sports-tech and Tokyo where Aquilano & Rimondi belts silky plains as well as decorative supersized florals.

It is sensual, sporty and streetwise.

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